WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Sentencing Commission has voted to reduce the length of federal prison sentences for most drug dealers.
The commission says it estimates the changes approved earlier this month would affect roughly 70 percent of federal drug trafficking defendants and would reduce by 11 months the average length of sentence for drug offenders.
The panel believes the change, which would reduce sentencing guideline levels across drug types, would cut the federal prison population by some 6,500 over five years.
Attorney General Eric Holder called the commission’s action a “milestone” but said Congress needed to do more to ease the “overburdened prison system.”
The amendment will go to Congress for approval May 1.
Congress has six months to introduce and pass legislation to stop the proposed changes before they become law.
"Our country is slowly but steadily reversing the damage done by the failed, racially biased war on drugs," said Jesselyn McCurdy, ACLU senior legislative counsel.
McCurdy said the actions taken by the commission “are another positive move toward reducing unnecessarily long sentences that have led to bloated, overcrowded prisons.”
“Our criminal justice system is smarter, fairer, and more humane than it was a year ago,” she said, “and we need to make sure momentum continues in the right direction."
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